Posted by Kelly French
a resident of Pleasanton Valley
on Apr 15, 2013 at 8:46 am

A huge thank you to the run committee members who made the 1st Annual Pleasanton Run for Education a complete success. We had over 250 half marathon runners, over 1200 5K runners and over 300 kids who participated in the Kids' Challenge. We were blessed with perfect weather and a tremendous amount of support from the Pleasanton community.
I'd like to thank all the volunteers, event sponsors, Pleasanton PD, the city of Pleasanton, PUSD and all of our run participants for your contributions in making this event a huge success. We've been hearing that both courses turned out a little short . . . something to improve on for next year. The link for race results have been posted on our website (www.ppierun.com) and the link to check out event photographs will be posted very soon. Quite a few photos have been posted on our Pleasanton Run for Education facebook page. I'm overwhelmed with the enthusiasm from our community and all the messages of gratitude that have been flowing in.

Posted by Jeff Durban
a resident of Del Prado
on Apr 15, 2013 at 12:30 pm

The PPIE 1/2 Marathon and Kid's Challenge were both very well run. I've never experienced such a well marked course with volunteers at every turn and corner to keep everyone on track. The Kid's run was challenging for all ages and the volunteers did a fantastic job of "herding the cats" to the finish line.

Thanks to everyone who came out to help our schools and enjoy an awesome Pleasanton morning.

Posted by better planning
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Apr 15, 2013 at 3:28 pm

Please find a route next year that doesn't require the re-routing or stoppage of traffic or causes residential neighborhoods to shelter in place while the hordes of people descend on our streets. Lots of races have been run in and around the Business Park without incident, which is a perfect fit since businesses are closed over the weekends. If the race is as popular as is being claimed, the change in location should not be a detraction from the event. Thanks for thinking of others.....

I loved the fact that it went through neighborhoods! It ran down our street and there were kids and families out there cheering them on. What a wonderful way to spend the morning. It really felt like a community event. Where are people going on a sunday morning that they can't be re-routed for 3 minutes for a good cause and a fun event?

Very disappointing to find out our first family 5k was over 1/2 mile short. We were happy to see our little ones finish it, but sad to know that they can't say they really did a 5k. Hope the group does a better job of measuring next year!

Posted by Teacher
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Apr 16, 2013 at 11:09 am

What a great event!!! Congrats to everyone that put so much time and effort into making this race a wonderful experience for both volunteers and runners.

It would be great if our community could focus on the positive and how great this event was, instead of pointing out the negatives instead. I'm sure the half a mile, in the big scheme of things, isn't THAT disappointing to you. The course was changed literally the night before the race which is why it was too short and the change was done by the company hired to do the course, NOT the PPIE organizers or volunteers so please don't criticize them! This is the first time PPIE organized the run so I'm sure there will be things done differently next year so be supportive of them as they iron everything out! Practice makes perfect:)

Posted by better planning
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Apr 16, 2013 at 2:49 pm

lessismore-I've lived in town for more than 20 years, paying a bucketload of tax money to our schools and I'm not going away, nor will I stay quiet about an event that was not discussed with the residents of our street that essentially penned us in from 7:30 AM until just after 10am.
"This was a great community event in out city. The volunteers from Amador who help out at the race were outstanding." OK. If you feel so magnanamous about this event, let them run the route in front of your dwelling next year, but don't have them notify you until the morning of. Your arrogance and lack of respect for neighborhoods outside of Mohr Park makes me suspicious as to what your motivation really is, other than to tick off those who don't fit your agenda.

FYI-the event was run by Mark Aiton, who is a 'professional' event organizer based in Arnold, Ca. I can't imagine he'll be paid to run more of these events in Pleasanton, not just because of the lack of organization and communication, but that the route that was less than the published 5K.

I live in Parkside and was notified with a letter in my mailbox several days before with information and the link to the website where we coluld see the whole route map. You probably threw your letter away without realizing it. My neighbors and I had a lot of fun outside watching the race. It's too bad you couldn't just turn something unexpected for you into something positive. I hate to see what happens to you when something bad really does happen in your life if something this minor has you in such an uproar.

Posted by Wonderful Event
a resident of Country Fair
on Apr 17, 2013 at 5:07 pm

At better planning- so sad that you are that upset about an event that took 3 hrs away from your precious life. Maybe if you had read all of the info in the weekly and the mailings that were sent out prior to the event, then you could have had better planning. It was a great event and took a lot of planning and volunteers to make this happen, so sorry if it runied your Sunday morning. I enjoyed running the route and would be fine with the route going past my house if it meant money was being donated towards a good cause.

Posted by Just another voice
a resident of Vintage Hills Elementary School
on Apr 19, 2013 at 2:24 pm

Better Planning I know exactly how you feel but you are talking about a very small amount of time out of your life. In the scheme of things did it really affect your life that much? If you feel better venting then go for it, but this was a community event that does things for the Schools of Pleasanton. And by the way I have Bicycle races and Triathlons all summer by our house and even though they are loud you learn to live with because it is part of the make-up of the Community that we call Pleasanton.

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